Why colocation still makes sense in a cloud computing world

Colocation is where you move your physical servers and infrastructure to a third-party data center. With most organizations moving workloads to the cloud, why would you still want to colocate, let alone own hardware?

The first and most important reason is control. Cloud providers are all about convenience and converting costs to an opex model, which makes sense for smaller companies that lack the resources. When a server goes down on cloud provider, or the backup stops working, unless the solution is obvious, you need to defer to their support, and often these issues are a result of updates to the cloud platform. Your own hardware and access to it in a secure facility may not be cheap or convenient, but it gives you complete control.

Another important point reason are legacy systems. Cloud providers almost always only offer the latest versions of Operating Systems and software. When your business runs on much older but secure systems with software that won’t work on newer platforms, colocation is the only way. Often migrating these legacy systems can take years and cost a lot of money, so it makes sense to colocate and run a parallel migration project.

Those are two of the most common reasons an organization would forego cloud resources for owned hardware in a proper data center. There are many, but they are individual to each company. When considering moving to the cloud, do a proper comparison of all the options involved and the ROI over longer timeframes. As a lot of companies have found, colocation makes a lot of sense.

If you’re looking for colocation or server hosting in Los Angeles, contact Electric Kitten. For almost two decades, they have provided reliable colocation service, along with other web hosting options such as shared hosting and dedicated servers. Their colocation clients will have access to a state-of-the-art SAS-70 facility located in the One Wilshire Building in Los Angeles. Their hi-tech setup will ensure you recover quickly and efficiently from any technical disasters that may happen. For more information, call them today at 877-821-HOST or email them at sales@electrickitten.com.